Category: State or Local Government

Natural disasters are devastating, often resulting in loss of life, massive property damage, and damage to the critical infrastructure that powers emergency services. This can prompt public sector organizations to consider building more resilient infrastructure. Such was the case for the 911 system in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, an agency that dispatches for 21 public safety agencies including law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services, and averages over 325 calls for service per day. After a major flood in 2016 knocked out their 911 system, they worked with AWS Partner TailorBuilt Solutions, LLC. to use AWS to become resilient against disaster, reducing service interruptions and improving response times.

The recent Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy update contains important cloud computing language that aligns with the AWS approach to building CJIS compliant solutions. Learn more about the CJIS Security Policy changes and how AWS supports these new policies.

In September 2022, the State of Arizona Department of Homeland Security (AZDOHS) launched a new program to bolster the cybersecurity of Arizona’s most vulnerable cities, counties, and K12 school districts. The Arizona Statewide Cyber Readiness Grant Program enables local entities to reduce their cyberattack surface by accessing technical assistance and software licenses across five functional areas. The Cyber Grant Task Force selected two software providers from the AWS Marketplace hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Tanium and CrowdStrike to assist cities, counties, and schools with improving their cybersecurity posture.

At re:Invent 2022, discover how AWS empowers organizations across the public sector in the AWS Public Sector Leadership Session, on Tuesday November 29, from 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM. Dr. Peggy Whitson, astronaut and director of human space flight at Axiom Space, and Matthew C. Fraser, chief technology officer (CTO) of New York City, will join Max Peterson, vice president of worldwide public sector at AWS, on the re:Invent stage. Learn how these pioneers are paving new paths with AWS and discover how you can push boundaries and drive your mission forward for constituents.

According to the United States Constitution, public access to judicial proceedings is a right covered by the First and Sixth Amendments. To make hearings visible to the public, even when in-person attendance is limited, state and local governments are beginning to mandate many court proceedings be live streamed, often with a very short window to do so. The cloud-native media and asset management platform Nomad, which is built on AWS, helps governments implement scalable live streaming capabilities quickly and simply.

Citizens want to report issues to their local governments in a fast and simple manner and not have to worry about identifying the right government agency or phone number—for instance, if a fire hydrant is broken, or a road sign has fallen over. In this blog post, learn how to set up a solution with AWS deep learning services that creates a fluid experience for reporting and addressing these issues.

In June 2022, AWS Partner Coursera launched the annual Global Skills Report, an in-depth look at the state of skills globally. The Global Skills Report draws data from 100 million learners in more than 100 countries who have used Coursera, a global online learning platform, to develop a new skill during the past year. Building on the findings from the Global Skills Report, the following are four skills trends that workforce development leaders, like those in state and local government and education, should keep in mind as they strive to build an inclusive and competitive workforce.

How can public sector organizations help address the cloud skills gap? To discuss this, AWS recently hosted a webinar with a panel of government officials and workforce planning experts. These experts shared their success stories and offered best practices to state and local agencies looking to develop their own workforce strategies to build a robust pipeline of cloud talent. Read on for the top takeaways from the webinar.

In the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) 2022 Digital Competitiveness Index, Japan ranked 29th out of 63 countries, down one place from last year’s ranking. A 2021 white paper on information and communications by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications highlighted the gap between urban and rural digital transformation initiatives in Japan, with urban areas making more progress and local areas lagging behind. There is an urgent need to accelerate digital transformation across Japan to maintain and strengthen Japan’s competitiveness. Learn about local best practices in digital innovation across seven regions of Japan.

Amazon’s Working Backwards process puts the customer at the center of discussions about designing a solution based on their needs. The City of Bellevue, Washington recently benefited from this practice through a workshop facilitated by the Arizona State University (ASU) Smart City Cloud Innovation Center (CIC), powered by AWS. The CIC workshop provided clarity on Bellevue’s local road safety needs and how to best align its projects with national investment priorities.